The Cincinnati Cyclones fell 6-5 in a back-and-forth game with the visiting Kalamazoo Wings on Sunday evening. The loss ends Cincinnati’s four-game win streak and moves their record to 25‑24‑3‑0 on the season.
Cincinnati had five different goal scorers in the game, with goals coming from Ryan Kirwan, Marko Sikic, Sam Stevens, Nick Rhéaume, and Gunnar Fontaine.
Kalamazoo now sits just one point behind the Cyclones in the Central Division standings. Cincinnati remains one point back of Bloomington for the final playoff spot and still holds a game in hand on the Bison, who were off on Sunday.
Josh Bloom led the way for Kalamazoo with a four goal night, scoring in a variety of ways and seemingly finding the right place on the ice every shift. It was not Ken Appleby’s best outing, as he stopped 16 of 22 shots.
Game Recap
Kalamazoo opened the scoring in the first period with goals from Bloom and Mainolfi, both on shots that Appleby likely wanted back. The Wings carried a 2-0 lead into the second.
Cincinnati finally broke through midway through the middle frame when Stevens fired a puck through traffic from the high slot to make it 2-1. A few minutes later, Kirwan tied the game by shooting the puck through Aku Koskenvuo’s pads for his 21st of the season.
Less than a minute after the tying goal, Sikic redirected a Christian Felton shot for his eighth of the year, giving the Cyclones their first lead of the night at 3-2.
Bloom answered on the power play, going bar down to tie the game 3-3 heading into the third.
Cincinnati regained the lead early in the final frame when Rhéaume cleaned up a loose puck in the crease to make it 4-3.
The game continued to swing back and forth. Kalamazoo tied it again on a goal from Lee, then took the lead when Bloom broke free on a breakaway after a defensive lapse and beat Appleby through his five-hole to make it 5-4.
Bloom completed his four-goal night late in regulation, scoring after a big penalty kill from the Wings to extend the lead to 6-4.
Cincinnati kept pushing and cut the deficit to 6-5 on a goal from Fontaine with under two minutes left, but could not find the equalizer.
The Cyclones now get a break after playing four games in six days. They return to action on Friday night on the road against the Toledo Walleye at 7:15 PM EST, then return home for a Saturday and Sunday set against the Utah Grizzlies.
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